Laid-off home care workers want back on the job, say seniors’ service reduced
Posted October 15, 2015 3:19 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Saint Elizabeth home care workers laid off in Vancouver and other parts of the region are calling for their jobs back, saying service to seniors has been affected.
Eighty-nine home care workers around the region have been let go in recent weeks by the non-profit, and some of those people attended a Vancouver rally today, along with families which have seen service reductions as a result.
Rose Chee is one of those affected. Due to a chronic illness, she isn’t in a position to provide much help to her father.
“He is slightly paralyzed on his right side,” says Chee. “So he has a hard time getting dressed. It takes him a long time. He doesn’t walk. Just a couple of weeks ago, we were told his services would be dropped to half an hour. It takes the worker just half an hour to get him into the shower and get him dressed and showered and everything else. It can’t be done.”
She says these cuts have meant the two hours a week of help he would get with bathing and chores like laundry were cut to 30 minutes.
“I had to fight with them to get them to reinstate the services and they only went up to 45 minutes, which means the worker has to rush, and not really give due care to him, which is sad,” says Chee.
It’s also been a tough time for many of those laid off. Leonor Morgan had been working with Saint Elizabeth for 21 years before being notified of her layoff three weeks ago.
Beyond the financial stress she’s experiencing now, Morgan is concerned for the workers that remain — who she says are often dedicating what would normally be their breaks or lunch time to helping clients because the 30 minutes set aside is too short a period to adequately help them.
“What can we do in half an hour? Sometimes we extend our own hours to help them,” says Morgan. “You cannot just walk away. They are seniors. They are sick, so we just give our own time sometimes.”
In a statement, Vancouver Coastal Health says it still meets its clients medical needs — although hospitality services have been “reassessed.”
